No Turning Back • Rothera Fire • Kayaking the Antarctic • Summer Tours • 2003 Solar Eclipse • Tangan Expedition!
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Journal of the New Zealand Antarctic Society Vol 19, No. 2, 2001 No Turning Back • Rothera Fire • Kayaking the Antarctic • Summer Tours • 2003 Solar Eclipse • Tangan Expedition! Antarctic COVER PICTURE CONTENTS Kayaking in Antarctica SCAR Symposium Rothera Fire Plans to Locate Endurance Solar Eclipse in 2003 Cover photograph: New Zealand kayakers in the Letter to the Editor Antarctic Peninsula north of Enterprise Island. Photo: Graham Charles. The story of last season's Terrorist Attacks Affect Antarctic Planning epic trip is summarised in Antarctic, Vol. 18, no. 3 & 4, p. 58. More photographs opposite. Adventure Tourism Volume 19, No. 2, 2001 No Turning Back - Colin Monteath Issue No. 177 ANTARCTIC is published quarterly by the Over My Shoulder - Dogs on Ice New Zealand Antarctic Society Inc., ISSN 0003-5327. Please address all editorial enquiries to The Editor, NZ Antarctic Society, PO Box 404, Christchurch, or Review - A First Rate Tragedy email: [email protected]. Printed by Herald Communications, 52 Bank Street, Timaru, New Zealand. Review - Antarctica Unveiled Tribute - W. Frank Ponder Science - Tangaroa Explores Ross Sea Science - First Foucault Pendulum at Pole Antarctic Rubbish Volome 19, No. 2,2001 Antarctic NEWS Seals, Subglacial Lakes and Ultra-violet Radiation Highlights of the eighth SCAR Biology Symposium By Dr Clive Howard-Williams here were APIS, Subglacial lakes and The symposium also hosted a UV Radiation. workshop and several lectures on the The eighth SCAR international Bi The results of the Antarctic Pack Ice status of the Earth's latest unexplored ology Symposium was held in Am Seals (APIS) programme are appear large ecosystem: the sub-glacial lakes sterdam between 27 August and 5 ing in the literature, following the beneath the 3.5 km thick Antarctic ice September 2001. SCAR Symposia are enormously successful APIS voyage cap in the middle of the continent. a very important part of SCAR's in on the Nathaniel B Palmer from De The best known of these is Lake teractions with the science commu cember 1999 to February 2000. For Vostok, a lake beneath the ice of some nity and for those many Antarctic sci the first time ever, synoptic and wide 6 000 square kilometres in area and entists who are not directly associated ranging counts were made over a 1000 m deep. Research on the Vostok with the large SCAR Science pro large area of the ice pack to determine ice cores, on the seismic profiling of grammes, these symposia are often the abundance and distribution of the the area and from a series of physical the only contact they have with pack ice seal species, about which and geochemical models has pro SCAR. The international Biology very little is known. These seals lie in vided a fascinating picture of what symposia also attract scientists from one of Earth's most remote and inhos the lake may be like in structure, and the Arctic and those working in ar pitable marine ecosystems requiring possibly even chemistry, but the great eas related to aspects of polar science. special ship, airborne and satellite unknown is whether there is life in An unusual feature of the symposia linked operations to study them. Pack the lake. Evidence from elsewhere in is that they cover a wide discipline ice seals cover the following species: Antarctica suggests that life should base, with a place (Antarctica) as the Crabeater, Ross, Weddell and leopard occur there, and that it will be micro focus rather than a subject area. Mi seals. These seals have different life bial. It will have been isolated from crobial ecologists rub shoulders with history patterns that show up in the the rest of the world for up to 1 mil seal biologists, and terrestrial bota way they use the pack ice. Crabeater lion years. What genetic structures nists listen to oceanographic lectures. seal densities were highest in the vi will it have? What physiological The interest and shared experience in cinity of the continental shelf, mechanisms and enzyme systems? Antarctica binds the delegates to Weddell seals had highest densities How do we drill into the lake with gether in a way probably unique to on the fast ice, with lowest over deep out contaminating it? The next three the science world. water. Ross seals were most abundant years of research will prove crucial in The Amsterdam symposium at in the interior pack ice. Leopard seals beginning to understand these amaz tracted over 350 delegates from 22 were almost non-existent in the Ross ing systems. countries. The symposia are held Sea pack ice. Crabeater seals moved Recent research on Ultra Violet ra every 3 years, and at every sympo throughout the pack ice zone, but diation (UVR) in the Antarctic was sium there are highlights in the form tended to stay near the continental reported on in several papers at this of new discoveries and new research slope, Weddell seals tended to drift symposium. It is clear that terrestrial directions. Naturally there were a sig with the ice. And Ross seals tended and shallow freshwater and marine nificant number of presentations on to use the open water north of the organisms such as mosses, algae and climate change, but the three areas pack ice for prolonged foraging trips bacteria can adapt very quickly to that I particularly want to mention in the southern ocean, using the pack Continued on Page 117 ice to haul out. Giant Tour Ship to Visit Antarctic Peninsula Westours, part of the Holland and operational standards relating to America Line plans to take its 55,451 environmental protection far tonne Ryndam through the narrow exceeding those required in Lemaire Channel in January 2002. conforming to generally accepted This repeats the visit of an earlier Antarctic guidelines" Although the Ryndam (219 m long) giant tour ship in late January 2000 is slightly shorter than the Rotterdam when the 62,000 tonne Rotterdam Giant tour ship Ryndam in warmer it will be carrying more passengers passed through the channel carrying waters. 970 passengers, setting a record for (1266) and a crew of 557. There will the largest ship to operate in Antarctic Dr Bernard Stonehouse, lecturer be no attempt to disembark. The ship waters. The 238 m long Rotterdam had aboard the cruise and a member of was built in Italy in 1994 and is been paying a two-day visit to the the Society, is quoted as describing registered in the Netherlands. It has Peninsula as part of a four month the visit as "a safe, carefully-planned 10 decks and a quarter of the 633 world cruise. No passengers or crew and well executed operation, with cabins have their own balconies. were taken ashore. well-considered contingency plans, 116 Volome 19, No. 2, 2001 NEWS Antarctic Serious Fire at Rothera Destroys The fire at Bonner Building laboratory well out of control. Photo: British The Bonner Laboratory at British Antarctic Survey. Antarctic Survey's Rothera Station was completely destroyed by fire in around 15-20% of the the early hours of Saturday 29 Sep BAS programme. With tember 2001. A fire alarm sounded at this year's Antarctic 1 a.m. local time alerting staff to field season about to smoke and flames in the loft of the start, science managers Laboratory. Efforts to put out the fire are looking in detail at with a snow blowing machine and a both the short and long- small fire engine failed, and deterio term implications for rating weather with winds gusting up biological research. to 75 knots forced Rothera staff to re Deputy Director of turn to the safety of the main living BAS, Dr John Dudeney, and accommodation block. The re said soon after the disaster "We are Fire aftermath at Rothera. Photo: maining Rothera buildings were un relieved that there has been no loss British Antarctic Survey. damaged and all 21 wintering science of life or injury and the rest of the re The Bonner Laboratory was and support staff were safe. search station, including the living ac opened at Rothera in January 1997 The Director of BAS, Professor commodation, is not at risk. Our first and is the centre for biological re Chris Rapley, and senior staff had a priority is the safety of our staff and search by BAS in the Antarctic Penin difficult job assessing the full impact we are in regular contact with sula. It is equipped with sophisticated of the fire on the BAS operations and them This major damage to the scientific instruments, a dive facility research programme. Marine and ter laboratory will be a serious blow to and marine aquarium. Regular fire restrial research at Rothera represent our biological research programme." drills are carried out. SCAR Symposium - Continued from Page 116. A Voyage for Stamp lovers increased UVR levels by adjusting their natural pigment The Belgian company "Asteria Antarctica" is offering a "suncreens" or other biochemical pathways. We also now tourist voyage late next year with a special philatelic fo know that the roles of UVR in Antarctic ecosystems are cus. One of its aims will be to visit postal facilities at up to many and varied and that certain wavelengths of UVR are eight national stations in the Antarctic Peninsula. associated with the repair of damage caused by other UV There is great international interest in polar philately, wavelengths. One paper showed that the cellular damage with many polar philatelic societies around the world. caused by UVR during daylight hours was repaired when Expeditions planning visits to Antarctica get a significant UV levels dropped during the "night" hours when levels number of requests for specially marked and signed enve of UVR were reduced.